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1 Year Later, No One Has Been Held Accountable For Shireen Abu Akleh’s Death

Shireen Abu Akleh’s friends and family have been waiting for justice for a year.

The Palestinian American journalist for Al Jazeera was fatally shot by an Israeli soldier while she was reporting exactly one year ago, prompting outrage across the globe. Tributes from viewers, fellow journalists and colleagues poured in, recalling her 25-year legacy.

To date, no one has been held accountable for Abu Akleh’s death — which isn’t unusual in cases of journalists who have been killed in Israel, according to a new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom.

“Over the past year, we were forced to grieve but at the same time [are] trying to seek justice and accountability for the crime that was committed by Israel,” said Lina Abu Akleh, the journalist’s niece.

On May 11, 2022, Abu Akleh and several other journalists wearing protective vests with the word “PRESS” on them were reporting on the aftermath of an Israeli raid in Jenin, a city in the northern West Bank, when Abu Akleh was shot in the back of her head. A video shows fellow journalist Shatha Hanaysha screaming as Abu Akleh’s body hits the ground.

Mere hours after footage of Abu Akleh’s killing circulated online, the Israeli government suggested she was killed by militants’ stray bullets. But investigations by the United Nations, The Associated Press, The Washington Post and CNN, as well as other several independent reviews by newsrooms and human rights organizations, later found that Israeli forces were responsible.

In September, the Israel Defense Forces admitted it was highly likely that the Israeli military had killed Abu Akleh but refused to press charges against any soldiers.

After mounting pressure from Abu Akleh’s family members and members of Congress, the State Department released its own statement last July in which it offered “deepest condolences to the Abu Abkleh family” but stopped short of condemning Israel. In the fall, the U.S. Justice Department announced its own investigation into Abu Akleh’s death, which is still ongoing.

Last week, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urging him to release a report that the U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the body that oversees security issues in the region, had submitted on Abu Abkleh’s death. Van Hollen raised concerns that the U.S. government could alter the report and stressed that transparency is needed.

“We were informed that, before congressional release of the USSC Report is authorized, the Administration plans to make unspecified changes to its contents,” he wrote. “While the Administration has characterized its proposed changes as ‘technical,’ any actions to alter the USSC’s Summation Report in any way would violate the integrity of this process.”

Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, said the U.S. government hasn’t done enough to pursue justice for Abu Akleh’s death.

“We need to see the much-needed public update about where the status of this investigation is,” he told HuffPost. “We also want to see the U.S. government leverage its relationship with Israel to make sure that they are cooperating with FBI investigation, and also reforming the rules of engagement.”

But accountability is unlikely to come, according to CPJ’s new report. The organization said the Israel Defense Forces have killed at least 20 journalists in the Palestinian territories in the last 22 years — that’s 80% of the journalists and media workers killed in the Palestinian territories. State inquiries into their deaths were slow, not transparent and often undermined independent reporting, according to CPJ.

Mansour said Abu Akleh’s killing was “part of a pattern of response that is designed to evade accountability.”

CPJ noted Israeli investigations into journalists’ deaths have left their families with little recourse — something Abu Akhleh’s family knows well.

“Accountability means that everyone and anyone involved in the killing is held responsible, whether it’s from the soldier who pulled the trigger to the person who gave that command,” Lina Abu Akleh said.

In Al Jazeera’s newsroom in the West Bank, Shireen Abu Akleh’s office has been converted into a memorial, with candles, photos and memorabilia cascading down her desk to the floor. It’s exactly how her family wants the world to remember her.

“For us and for millions around the world, people knew Shireen as the voice of Palestine,” Lina Abu Akleh said. “She was a proud Palestinian American journalist who spent her entire life reporting on the injustice Palestinians face on a daily basis. But it wasn’t only that. She also used to make sure to cover the beauty of Palestine — the accomplishments and the success stories of the people. She wanted to show the world what people experienced on a daily basis, the good and the bad.”

“It’s important to remember and humanize her and continue to talk about her and her achievements and accomplishments, but most importantly, to remember that she was a human being who was taken away from us in cold blood and in such a cruel and violent way.”

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